The project 'LEAD' is a response to the current need observed by the teachers in most partner schools. The 4 partner schools out of 6 have already worked with each other in previous projects, thus we could easily share our ideas and finally agreed on the most important issues which need improvement- lack of students' initiative and involvement in global problems to improve their life (at school, in families and communities) and their low activeness in school governments. Being inactive at school has a negative impact on each individual and the community she/he lives in. The students who are not active at school very often get worse academic results, there is a deficiency in their communication skills, decision making and team work abilities.This shortage can have negative consequences in students' adult life - low responsiveness to the job market demands because of lack of knowledge and initiative. At the same time low social awareness of global problems such as e.g.food waste, consumerism will definitely cause negative consequences for the natural environment. It is also important that the students gained solid knowledge about social media usage to avoid manipulation through fake news. Through this project we would like to encourage the students to think critically, aways check the sources of information, respond to global problems and most of all to initiate changes in their schools and later in the society. To achieve this goal we planned the activities in four stages. In 'LEARN' we give the students two tools to enhance their motivation to initiate changes in their surroundings: -knowledge about democracy, EU (www.Europe.eu), its initiatives, institutions,acts, political speech making. We will organize 'European Awareness Week' in each school with workshops about speech making, school games and quizzes about EU and democracy fighters - development of skills to 'feel' democracy through debating, discussing, voting, giving speeches, argumenting.We will organize a simulation role play theatre 'European Parliament' where the students will perform roles of politicians, journalists, photographers, democracy fighters.They will propose issues to discuss and provide solutions while others will interview them and write articles. In 'EXCHANGE' the students will gain knowledge about social media use to be critical thinkers able to judge reliability of news, the role of influencers in our lives.They will construct a questionnaire to check how much time they devote to social media as compared to real life interaction- the findings will be published in a leaflet. There will be workshops with simulated role plays about reacting to agression in social media- the students will work out a syllabus of rules and strategies about how to act, respond to agression. The students will prepare a theatre workshop about consumerism during exchange visit where they will work in mixed groups practising argumenting and creating an object from recycled materials. In 'ACT'- the students will get accustomed with local innitiatives and (Youth) City Council work and will implement intervention program modelled on the city/region iniitiative about dealing with the food waste problem. The aim is to get the students involved in a series of selfless, voluntary, non profitable activities, to work out a simple program improving the situation in their community.They will organize " Zero Waste" awareness raising campaign- an informative action: opinion poll results will be published on school websites and in the form of leaflets with cooking recipes,they will make up a logo/symbol for the action which they will distribute in the central part of their communities.The influencers will create tutorials about 'zero waste' lifestyle. In 'DISSEMINATE' - the students will work out new ways to spread knowledge about the project, their achievements, findings and results. They will create Youtube and Instagram channel and make a film about the project development showing all the stages of work. There will be a meeting with press, media and a guests invited -representative of EU, influencers, other schools students where the film will be presented, the students will be 'experts' and will present the results of their intervention program, answer questions about the project.
During this project, students and teachers have been given the opportunity to develop knowledge and sense of initiative regarding social issues concerning everything from democracy to food waste. Training and activities have lead to a deeper understanding of similarities and differences between the participating countries within these and other areas. The project began in Örebro (C5) by giving the teachers a common ground and tools to guide students in the respective home countries through the different parts of the project. This was done through roleplays on democracy and workshops within IT and digital tools. The acronym LEAD stands for the content of the project and will be presented in more detail below. During the mobility in Munich (C1) where the focus was to LEARN the students were given the opportunity to meet online before the mobility to discuss issues regarding EU institutions. A contest with a quiz about EU organizations was launched to help the students connect and learn. The students also had a logo competition for the project to help the feeling of togetherness and creativity. During the mobility a European awareness week was organized and students worked actively on speech giving, debating, discussing and voting in a simulation parliament. During the mobility in Ponte de Sor (C2) where the focus was to “EXCHANGE” the students gained knowledge about social media and the impact it has on teenagers. This lead to a reaction to the concept of “fast fashion” and the impact it has on the environment. The students were given the opportunity to use Social Media to share and educate. Through lectures and workshops about the cosmetic industry they gained awareness about consumerism and its damaging effects while also gaining critical awareness towards social media and other online sources of information. This culminated in the cooperative making of a piece of art made of recycled materials. During the Mobility in Zory (C3) where the focus was to ACT, the students learned about food waste and the problems surrounding the overconsumption of food. The students from all of the participating countries carried out a raising awareness campaign and informative action during a City Youth Council meeting and were given the opportunity to share and discuss with local leaders. The students also practiced selfless and compassionate acting through visiting a convent and helping with the preparation and distribution of food to the local homeless people. The topic of Zero Waste lifestyle was discussed and the students where encouraged to spread awareness regarding the topic. During the final mobility in Cefalu (C4) where the focus was to DISSEMINATE, students prepared for a meeting with local politicians and decision makers. A group of students prepared a presentation with results from the project. Local initiatives regarding environmental work were highlighted and students got to participate and learn about alternative ways of dealing with waste. At the end of the project there will be a teacher training in Strasbourg (C6). Teachers will visit the European Parliament, listen to a debate and experience the european spirit in this special city for the European Union. Teachers will learn and make an effort to be able to spread this knwoledge to other teachers and future pupils.